How Interactive A/V Technology Drives This Flipped Classroom

James Riley flipped his classroom at Tampa Prep at the beginning of the 2012–2013 school year. Today, the 16-year veteran teacher says he’s not going back.

“I’m absolutely sold on the flipped classroom concept,” says Riley, who teaches algebra and pre-calculus to 10th through 12th graders at the school, which was founded in 1974 by a group of citizens dedicated to the idea of an independent secondary school with an advanced college-preparatory curriculum but also committed to the arts and athletics. “It’s not necessarily easy but the results are definitely worth it.”

The flipped classroom is a form of blended learning in which students learn new information online by watching video lectures, usually at home, and what used to be homework assigned by teachers in class is now done in class with the teacher offering more personalized guidance and interaction with students, instead of lecturing. In flipped teaching, the students first study the topic on their own, typically using video lessons prepared by the teacher or third parties such as Mathletics.com or the Khan Academy. In class, students apply this knowledge by solving problems and doing practical work. The teacher tutors the students when they become stuck, rather than imparting the initial lesson in person. Those who’ve worked with the concept say that flipped classrooms free class time for hands-on work. Students learn by doing and asking questions. Students can also help each other, a process that benefits both the advanced and less advanced learners.

Riley says he was considering the idea independently when his headmaster at Tampa Prep mentioned that he was looking for ideas for a “classroom of the future.” That serendipity led to Riley applying for and receiving a grant from funds set aside for curriculum development to make his flipped classroom a reality.

Smart Stuff

A/V systems integrator AVI-SPL, which has a location in Tampa, has been working with Tampa Prep for about decade, installing Smart’s SmartBoards and other classroom technology, such as projectors, in the school’s classrooms. Riley sat down with Tampa Prep’s technology director Chad Lewis and brought their ideas on technology to AVI-SPL’s offices, researching hardware and software ideas. Their collaboration resulted in a design that has five 42-inch NEC LCD displays wall-mounted around the classroom. Four of these have Smart touch screen overlays, allowing students to interact with Smart’s SmartNotes software running from an Apple MacBook laptop computer to collaborate with each other and with Riley, whose laptop and iPad are connected wirelessly with a fifth LCD display via an Apple TV device. The students’ own iPads — the grades 6-through-12 school has a one-to-one iPad ration for all students — can also connect through the Crestron room automation system in the classroom.

“AVI-SPL pulled just about everything out of the classroom — we left one old-school whiteboard in there, just in case — to make way for the new flipped classroom,” says Riley. “I had the displays mounted on the walls centered about four feet off the floor, a good height for teens. The idea is to make the classroom as student-centric as possible by making the technology as accessible to them as possible.”

Riley interacts with the classroom via a Shure wireless microphone system that is pumped through ceiling speakers in the room, and the Crestron switching system lets him put any content he wants from his devices or the SmartBoard onto any of the room’s five displays. Student desks now accommodate two students each, side by side, and their 2 x 4-foot dimensions mean that they form a perfect square when pushed together, giving the classroom a modular way to reconfigure itself as needs change.

Practical Matters

The flipped classroom is almost any educator’s ideal of a technology-friendly environment, but Riley says it also reflects some practical thinking. The touch screen overlays on the displays, for instance, meant the school didn’t have to use projectors, which are more expensive to purchase and, due to the cost of bulbs, to operate, as well. “It’s a lot more streamlined than it would be with a projector hanging down from the ceiling,” he says. Smart’s SmartNotes also eliminates the need for multiple colored markers, allowing multiple colors to come from a single stylus device.

But it also took some relearning on his part. For instance, the Smart overlays aren’t touch sensitive like the iPads the students are used to are; instead, they use cameras mounted in the corners of the screen capture the movements of the stylus, which was something both Riley and his students needed to get used to. Those cameras, which require a PC for calibration, also presented a challenge when used in an all-Apple environment like Tampa Prep. Riley says when they do go out of whack, which they will occasionally, he has to hunt down a PC with an HDMI port.

“I also had to learn to work with the switcher under the pressure of 15 chirping kids, which wasn’t easy but necessary to avoid slowing the flow of the class down,” he adds.

But the small annoyances do not overshadow the big results. “The idea of the flipped classroom really works,” he says, still enthusiastic after almost two years of working with it. “What’s interesting is that the concept works without any technology at all. But when you can have the technology like we have here it can really leverage the concept even further.”

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